He offered his heart

a single rose

his soul

within his stem

but she preferred 

his countless words

to this loving man.

She bid him love

on paper,

in poetry and prose,

where she could chart

his every move-

the woman and the rose.

She tried to graph 

his vapors,

to help her understand

why her 

pretty rose leaf paper

just turned into 

a man.

He offered his heart

a single rose

his soul

within the stem 

but she preferred

his countless words

to this loving man

and in the process she forgot

that even as 

she graphed his love

’twas she 

who loved him 

not.